‘Not polarising’, ‘not colloquial’, ‘defensible’: The scary prospect of marketing Australia
Running the marketing of Australia must be one of the most thankless jobs in the world.
Most of your 22 million stakeholders are going to have a view on your strategy, and of course feel entitled to express it.
No wonder there’s been a long gap since “Where the bloody hell are you?” died.
The evidence of how heavily it weighs was on display at today’s launch of the new position “There’s nothing like Australia”.
Admittedly, it did momentarily make me think of the Wizard of Oz…
But one of the slides they presented was informative about the pressures that must mount. It was a list of the 14 mandatories that applied before they locked down the line.
I didn’t have time to t scribble down them all, but of those that I got, many were sensible – things like “rallying point”, “authentic”.
But many did smack a little of fear of public backlash – things like “not polarising”, “not colloquial” and, perhaps most extraordinarily:
“A line that is defensible and that won’t attract negative comments before we have a chance to properly launch it.”
Cripes…
But I think they’ve pulled it off and managed to avoid scaring the horses. Certainly the mood I picked up at the launch was positive. And my colleagues on our sister travel title Thumbrella are already getting tentative thumbs-ups from smaller travel operators who can see how they might apply the position to their own businesses.
It also seems like a smart move not to launch a big TV ad today. It means that by the time judgement comes on that, everyone will already be used to the “There’s nothing like…” line.
It’s certainly a sign of PR lessons learned from previous blowtorchings.
But that was the (relatively) easy bit.
Now comes the real test: will it attract visitors?
Tim Burrowes
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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But no call to action Tim, which was one of the key requisites of the brief as I understand it. There’s nothing like Australia for the world’s most poisonous snakes, bloody big sharks, trackless wastes and the occasional psychopath. Hmm. Have to say could do better at this stage.
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Credit to Tourism Australia, they certainly have learnt from recent experiences.
1) TVC always gets slammed by the public, drop the TVC and lead with a public campaign.
4) Hero executions get hammered by the industry, drop the heroes and give all regions equal platform.
3) Visitor numbers continue to fall, increase international relevance through personality and experience.
It’s a simple idea executed well, that’s a hard lesson to learn in this business.
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@Liz The third component of the campaign will bring in the ‘partners’ to bring call to action. The most important part of the TA strategy is they have lined up all the states to make sure they are all singing off the same hymn sheet and have a role for operators.
Most important comment was off the cuff from Ferguson.
“Its time everyone gave Tourism Australia a fair go”. off the back of beating the world averages in tourism last year.
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As a mid to large sized travel operator in the backpacker market (on the Thumbrella side of the page) I can tell you we are very impressed by this vastly improved and somewhat industry-inclusive offering by TA.
And as for poisonous snakes and shark? Tourism Australia critics are more dangerous to our industry than reptiles and Great Whites so as Minister Ferguson says, give them a fair go.
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The criterion for us all to love it therefore just “defensible”
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Yeah I would describe it as safe after the bingle debacle.
Safe and easy for all industry to engage and at this point in time that’s probably exactly what they need.
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The line is quite similar to Where Else But Queensland, which seems to have worked for 10 years as a pretty flexible stepping off point for a few campaigns.
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Whilst I can appreciate the predicament they are in over their previous campaigns, it seems slightly flawed to have the australian public do their marketing for them.
I would suggest that whilst the phrase is open to abuse by the ‘Aussie larrikins’ might it not be better to have our target markets (USA, UK, Japan, etc) use their perception of our country and in return give them a free trip over here?
I think the ‘Where the bloody hell are you’ campaign proved we don’t quite know how they think just yet.
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So Close But Yet So Far!
I have a much better strategy available…
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Still I already have the Best Job In the World!
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Tim’s job certainly isn’t easy, and I’m afraid I’m not making it any easier with my comment, either. But some of his issues (and some of the previous comments) need to be addressed from an outsider’s, in my case European perspective.
Surely it’s a great challenge to come up with a national tourism campaign that is supposed to please a target group so diverse it ranges from Irish partypackers to Japanese golf players. Not only do you have to find a common ground within your own marketing team, but you’re also confronted with the sensitivities and vanities of bureaucratic stakeholders fiddling around with your concept without having a clue about marketing. The urge to choose the smallest common denominator is logically tempting, but misleading. It usually jeopardises the whole creativity that characterises good marketing.
I think the importance of slogans and their effect on potential visitors is highly overestimated, especially in the case of Australia: Overseas, people react much stronger to images of the Fifth Continent, whether of iconic ones such as the Opera House or Uluru or of other landscapes, wildlife or people. The impact of a slogan is so miniscule you could just as well do without it. Unless it adds some extra value, its own twist to the campaign, it is superfluous.
The “Where the bloody hell are you?” slogan had such a twist. Its problem was that outside of Australia, New Zealand and maybe the UK barely anyone could make sense of it. As Green_Man points out, the particularities of Australian slang are largely unknown in most target markets. At best, people just wondered about the connection between blood and hell to Australia – at worst, they thought it was plain rude. This was a typical case of ethnocentric marketing without testing the slogan on test persons not too familiar with Australian culture and society (which is most of the world population, even in Western countries).
For the same reason I’m wondering why everybody is so concerned about the reactions of the Australian public to these campaigns. They may be the stakeholders, but they are not the target audience, after all.
Having said that, I’d still prefer “Where the bloody hell are you” to the current slogan: At least the “bloody hell” campaign provoked the odd frown, while “There’s nothing like Australia” doesn’t provoke any reaction whatsoever. It’s so interchangeable people won’t remember which country it promotes even if you ask them just a minute after they read it.
And if you wanted to provoke the “Wizard of Oz” connotation, why the bloody hell didn’t you choose “There’s no place like Australia”?
Apart from that, it’s not so much posters and slogans that draw most attention to a destination, but innovative events. Best example: “The best job in the world” was a global success, promoting both the natural beauty of Australia, but also the relaxed attitude of its population – even though barely anyone outside the travel industry ended up actually reading Ben’s blog.
And finally: Rope globally known Aussie celebrities into your campaigns! I’ve been missing them in Australian tourism marketing for a long time.
Please respond!
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Agree with above, and another European perspective via Yarrawonga :)…. The comment on left “How the internet will turn the world upside down” is now central to services marketing, from our perspective, but terrifying for some, while opportunities presented ignored by most.
Users or target audience are most important marketing resources or starting point, not what appeals to commissioners or Oz public (nor their feelings and identity) as they are not the international target, I assume prospective or repeat international tourists are?
In Turkey and Central Europe from 90s people had no idea of Oz except kangaroos, Sydney, music and films e.g. The Castle, Priscilla etc. (confirmed by research in UK, tourism destinations informed by cinema), and all were mostly influenced by friends and word of mouth (as Australians are?). Yes, Oz icons important, but unique or different depending upon market e.g. Turkey now, Socceroos Harry Kewell and Lucas Neill widely recognised as Australian, but many Oz actors and musicians better known, are assumed to be American or British….. such icons change again in next market, e.g. Central Europe, Nick Cave would be one.
Australia has fallen behind in internet or online based use due to accessibility, cost and speed issues….which in my opinion means internet is often not considered nor capabilities understood by decision makers (this is clear in education sector).
In Turkey and Europe many younger generation no longer watch tv nor read newspapers but use online video and social networking…. fast cheap unlimited uploads/downloads is now seen as a basic human right….unlike Oz….
User generated is obvious direction, authentic, economic, direct and even better, done in the target audience or community language, via the internet for widest possible dissemination.
Island Reef Job intended this, but limited to only one person (like suggestion above, free trips and cameras to 100 nationalities to visit, like Day in the Life of Oz?), and if anyone had interest and actually went onto the QLD Holidays website technical issue re. further advice….. nowhere to inquire to “live” person i.e. only one private accommodation booker website, nothing offshore….. except few physical QLD state offices….
These resources can be further harnessed by Oz regions and towns as well, especially with community speaking other languages whether Asian or European via SEO websites including blogs, video etc. to be visible internationally, and like http://www.australia.com offshore contacts in most countries i.e. “Aussie Specialists” listed online can inform locally.
As we explain to education sector who focus upon short term offshore physical promotions and events, use the internet as the most economic and efficient distribution channel for marketing and sales all year round 24/7, if not, you will become redundant.
This is why the internet is turning the world upside down, it is powerful, all pervasive and does not respect traditional physical boundaries, hierarchies or authority, and is why journalists, according to Mark Day, are terrified….. but if used well could be great for marketing tourism and education services, plus a lower AUD would be useful…
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You folks arn’t bad, some great insights. “The Reef Job”, come on! In case you hadn’t noticed “the best (fill this space) in the world” has entered the lexicon. Give it the credit it deserves. Yep there was no back end to the thing (in regard to actual bums on seats) but then again it was conceived way back in 1996 when the talk was of Web 2 not in 2008 when Web 2 was a reality. Not to forget its creator was not in the room when it was brought to fruition…
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